My Body, Your Soul
by Vanilla and Chocolate
Summary: An old legend says that kids who dress as monsters on Halloween will find themselves unable to remove the costumes and they've become the monsters. What if someone dressed as Edward Elric? We won't even go there.
1. Chapter 1

_**Hello, everyone! ((Waves melodramatically)) This is Agent000 reporting from, um...Agent000land? Ahem. Me and AdventureAddict both decided to get ourselves a joint account so we could coauthor stories with each other more easily. So, our first assignment: Each takes a fic from the other that badly needs rewriting and rewrites it the best they can from their perspective. I took AdventureAddict's fanfic "The New Neighbors" and began to rewrite it, and she took my fanfic "My Body, Your Soul" and began to rewrite it. Both will be up shortly.**_

_**This was originally my story, but since we had agreed to do the swap, AdventureAddict took it under her wing, and I must say she's done an awesome job with it, making things make sense where they didn't before, and giving the characters a lot more character than they originally had. Both of us were new writers when we had written the original stories, but as one can tell from this example, she's definitely improved in her writing skills. I am honestly amazed at how well she treated this story.**_

_**Anyway, a hearty welcome to both the old fans of this fic as well as to the newcomers! I really hope you all enjoy this story.**_

_**Disclaimer: Neither one of us own Fullmetal Alchemist. I'll come up with something more creative for my disclaimers when it's not four in the morning.  
**_

"Katie! Hurry up!"

I jumped in my seat at the yell. My dad sure knew how to be loud when he wanted to be. It didn't help matters much. I was already stressed out enough from trying to get myself looking perfect for the night ahead.

I brushed out my dark hair as quickly as I could manage. It was Halloween night. I wanted to get out of the house as soon as possible. I grabbed a hair net off my dresser and began pushing my hair on top of my head. I wasn't about to dye my hair blond for just one night of trick-or-treating, so a wig was my next best option.

"Katie, what are you doing up there?" my dad yelled, and I winced. "You're going to be late meeting your friends!"

"I'll be right there!" I yelled back while hurrying to my bed. I had laid out my entire costume on the sheets. It was the most awesome Edward Elric cosplay I had ever seen, and I wasn't even wearing it. I grinned and grabbed the tank top, pulling off my own shirt as I did.

I wasn't sure what had driven me to make the costume accurate down to the last detail, but somehow I had pulled it off. Months before October I had considered saving some of my money to buy a replica of Ed's coat, but something had felt wrong about that. I knew it wouldn't be exactly like Ed's coat anyway.

So then I had decided to make myself my own costume and make it as perfect as was humanly possible. I had gone to the secondhand shop in town to try and see if I could find myself any red cloth to make the coat. I figured that sewing Ed's coat would be the best place to start.

And then I had seen it. A long red trench coat sticking out in the men's clothing section of the store. I couldn't help but go over to investigate to help fulfill my curiosity.

The coat was made out of a thick cloth, and looked like it had seen a rough life. Some places near the bottom had worn out and the last owner looked like they had tried to fix it, but their stitches were a little crude. The shoulders of the coat had been faded, as well as a strange spot on the back.

The coat fit me perfectly. It had spooked me out a little that I had gone to the store looking for cloth and found the perfect coat instead, but I had shrugged off the feeling and bought the coat for myself. Attaching my own symbol to the back would be easy enough.

The same pattern continued over the days leading up to Halloween. Every time I thought I would have to make an element of my costume from scratch, a perfect replica would show up in some other way. Even when I had been looking for blond wigs and getting frustrated with none of them matching the exact color, a neighbor down the street came over and said she had found an old blond wig in her attic and was wondering if any of us had a use for it.

I didn't even know why she thought my family would have a use for it out of all her neighbors, but I wasn't one to complain about it. The wig had been the perfect length and color for Ed's hair exactly. It even had the right bangs.

By the time Halloween was only a week away, I had everything I needed for a perfect costume except automail, but I wasn't even thinking I would be able to have an automail arm and leg. I didn't even need it. The rest of my costume covered those limbs well enough.

And then the garbage truck accidentally left a box of old scrap metal by our trash can when the other trash we had put out was picked up. My mom and dad had been considering calling someone to complain, but then I had noticed how the scrap metal had some parts to it that looked perfect for automail. There was no way I wanted to let the garbage truck haul that off to the dump.

"Katie, _what_ are you doing?" my dad yelled, and I jerked in the middle of doing my best to strap my "automail" to my right arm.

"I'll be down in a minute, Dad!" I yelled back, fiddling one last time with the main plate. The automail was a little uncomfortable to wear and hindered my movement a lot, but… it looked so cool.

I went back to the rest of my clothing and picked up the black jacket off the bed. First I jammed my right arm into it, then carefully stretched to get my left arm in the other sleeve. I knew I wouldn't be able to bend like that with my automail covering my arm. I then pulled on my pair of white gloves.

I grinned at my reflection in the mirror. All that was left to put on was the coat. I already looked like the best Edward Elric imitator I had ever seen.

I reached for the coat on my bed. A strange warmth blossomed in my fingers through the material of my gloves when I touched the coat. I frowned in confusion and stared at the red fabric.

"Katie!"

"Coming!" I yelled back. I threw the coat over one arm and ran out my room. My "automail" leg thumped loudly on the stairs. I wasn't used to its heavy weight.

It was just as uncomfortable as the metal on my arm, but I had decided to keep the metal off my foot and only put it on the rest of my leg so trick-or-treating wouldn't make it so I needed a _real_ prosthetic leg. I was glad I had thought to attach a bit of cloth to each of the pieces of metal so it wouldn't give me blister and bruises everywhere.

"Do you want me to drive you?" my dad asked when I ran into the living room. I shook my head and ran straight for the front door.

"We're only meeting a couple blocks down. Bye, love you!" I said as I ran outside. I could hear my dad yell that he loved me from inside the house. I ran down the street, unfolding my coat as I did. The coat rippled in the wind, and I suddenly realized how grateful I was to add another layer to my outfit. It was cold outside, and all the metal on my body wasn't helping much. I thrust my arms into the coat and pulled it on.

I nearly fell over from a dizzy spell, but instead managed to only stop running in my tracks. I winced and held a hand to my head. I had never known a headache to come on so quickly. I had no idea what could have caused it.

After a few minutes of my head swimming in pain, I finally managed to open my eyes and look around. My headache seemed to be gone for the most part, but it still felt like there was something tugging at the back of my head.

"Katie?"

I jumped a full 180 degree turn to see who had said my name. Sheila and Tammie were both there, looking and me with worried faces. Shelia had more of the wide eyed expression, while Tammie's way of showing worry was an unhappy purse to her lips. I smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of my head.

"We called your name a million times," Tammie said, crossing her arms. "Why didn't you answer?"

"I… Uh… I didn't hear you," I answered nervously. I'd really had no idea they had been calling me.

"Are you okay?" Shelia asked, stepping forward and putting her hand against my forehead. "You look pale, dear."

I frowned. Did I really look _that_ bad? I didn't feel like I was sick, it had only been a headache, after all.

"Um, I'm fine," I said, trying my best to slip my head away from Sheila in a way that wouldn't hurt her feelings. It felt weird to have one of my best friends treating me as if she were my mother. "I just had a headache, that's all. I think I was just nervous about being late and making you two mad."

Tammie rolled her eyes and smiled. "You always worry like that. We're not going to stop being your friends just because you're late for trick-or-treating."

"I… I know," I said, looking down at my feet. The other two were silent for a minute, probably exchanging a few glances if I knew them well enough. I sighed and looked back up at them.

"I still think you two should have gone as Al and Winry," I said, trying my best attempt at a weak smile. "Matching costumes would have looked so cool."

"Well, you could have always gone as a fairy," Tammie snorted. "Sheila and I both are fairies, you could have tried to match with us."

"Elf," Sheila corrected. "I'm not a fairy; I'm Arwen."

"Well, tell those elves of yours not to dress so much like fairies," Tammie grinned. She then looked back over to me. "Though… then again, you are dressed as Ed. He's certainly small enough to pass for an elf." I snickered. Tammie was such a goofball.

Then what she had said seemed to seep deeper into my brain. Short? She had just called me short? How could she?!

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SHORT ENOUGH TO MAKE EVEN ANTS BREAK FORMATION AND STARE?!"

I said it in a half-trance, not even realizing what words were flying past my lips. I huffed at the two once I had finished and crossed my arms with a pout. The two stared at me for a minute, then looked back at each other and burst out laughing.

"That was great!" Tammie said between laughs as she clutched at her sides. "You made all the little kids and their mommies stare at you!" I felt my cheeks get even hotter as I looked around. Everyone was staring at me, either with freaked out or amused expressions.

"How did you do that?" Sheila asked, still chuckling and watching me. "You sounded just like Edward." I felt more blood rise to my cheeks.

"It's not funny," I huffed at them. I felt like I was in a haze. It was like a cross between being aware of what I was doing and… not. "Don't call me small, got it? Let's just go get some candy before they hand it out to all the five year olds." I walked between Sheila and Tammie to the closest house on the street. I could hear them chuckling behind me as they followed.

I shook my head with a frown and felt the haze lift with my concentration. What was up with me, anyway? It seemed like dressing like Edward Elric had gone to my head.

Tammie rang the doorbell. An old woman with silvery hair down to her waist answered the door. She smiled at us, holding the bowl of candy at her side.

"Trick or Treat!" we chorused, and the woman's toothy grin widened.

"My, what lovely costumes," she said as she started reaching in the bowl of candy. "Who might you girls be?

"Faries," Tammie answered with a grin.

"_Arwen_."

The old woman looked over to me. I felt the haze settle over my mind again.

"I'm Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist!" I felt myself say and punch my fist into the air. Tammie and Sheila started giggling again, but the woman said nothing, only smiling and handing out two pieces of chocolate to me. I frowned, realizing suddenly that I had remembered every part of my costume except the most crucial part. I had forgotten a bag to carry all my chocolate in. I had been in such a rush to leave that I had completely forgotten it.

But that chocolate… I couldn't pass up free chocolate. I grinned at the woman and held out my empty hands. She chuckled and handed the chocolate to me.

"Have a great night, girls," she called out as we headed back down the path.

"You too!" Tammie and Sheila called back, waving at her. I didn't bother to answer. I was too busy grinning at the chocolate in my hands.

"Oh, old friend, I've missed you," I found myself cooing as I held the chocolate up to my face. I nearly laughed at my own behavior. Sheila and Tammie were the ones to laugh for me instead.

"Oh come on, it hasn't been that long since you last had chocolate," Tammie said with a roll of her eyes as we started walking to the next house.

"It's been an eternity," I sighed, starting to unwrap one of the pieces of chocolate. Shelia looked over at me with a frown.

"Don't go nuts," she said. "You know too much sugar gives you headaches."

"What?" I felt myself frown and look over at her. I then sucked in a breath of air and sighed heavily. "Oh, right. I forgot about that. I'll go easy on h-myself. Just one piece."

I frowned as I popped the piece of chocolate in my mouth. Something was definitely wrong. I had nearly called myself "her." Maybe I was just tired and not thinking entirely straight. I frowned and scratched at my head. The wig was starting to get incredibly itchy.

As soon as I started scratching at my head, my automail arm and leg started itching as well. I grunted and started to scratch at those. I could feel Tammie and Shelia look over at me curiously as we got closer to the door of the house, but I didn't pay much attention to them. It seemed like no matter how much I scratched, the itch kept pulling at my skin. I was starting to think that so many layers wasn't a good idea. I couldn't even feel my hand through all the thick cloth.

"Kate, are you okay?" Shelia asked as Tammie rang the doorbell. I closed my eyes and scratched harder. I just wanted the itch to go away. I decided that the best idea would be to take off the automail parts as soon as we were away from the house.

"Trick or Treat!" Sheila and Tammie said when a man answered the door. I could feel the haze settling over my eyes as I kept rubbing at my right arm. The man handed up some fun sized Starburst and we were on our way. As soon as we had reached the sidewalk, I felt myself wrench my coat off my own shoulders and then unfasten the clip at my neck. Both jackets feel to the ground, letting the cold wind wrap around my shoulders.

I felt myself freeze as I held up my right hand in front of my eyes.

"Wow, you really weren't kidding when you said that stuff looked like real automail," Tammie said, taking a couple steps forward. I ignored her and kept staring at my hand.

"No," I said, and I started feeling more and more like I was watching the scene play out in front of me than being a part of it. I winced and closed my eyes, holding the cold metal up to my cheek. "What have I done to her?"

"What are you talking about, Kate?" Sheila said, and I felt the worry lacing her voice. "Done what to who?" I felt my head turn to look over to Tammie. She was frowning at me as if I had grown an extra head.

"Tell us what's wrong," she said, placing a hand on my shoulder and squeezing. Hard. "Tell us _now._"

"Don't touch me!" I felt myself snap at her. I looked between her and Sheila for a minute, then turned and ran the opposite way down the sidewalk.

Something was wrong with me. This wasn't how I behaved. I didn't run when my friends were worried about me. I could hear them calling in the distance, but the fog over my eyes was getting thicker and thicker. I frowned and concentrated hard on making it go away.

I skidded to a stop just as Tammie stretched out her arm to grab at me in an attempt to make me stop running. Her fingers grasped around my braid and pulled.

My head jerked back and I yelped. I had expected the blond wig to pull off my head, but it felt like she had tugged at my own hair. I felt Tammie let go as I fell to my knees, holding at my head and sobbing.

Tammie and Sheila were both silent, and then I felt them crouch beside me. I felt one of them put an arm on my shoulder. I shrugged it off. I was terrified. I had no idea what was going on with my own body.

"Kate, tell us what's wrong," one of them said. I wasn't sure which; I was losing track of them. The fog was slipping over my eyes again.

"I didn't want this to happen to her," I felt myself mutter. "It was an accident, I swear. Just seeing her in those clothes…"

"Her?" one of my friends repeated. "What do you mean 'her'?"

"I'm not Katie," I felt myself say and then I turned my head up to look at them. "I'm Edward."

"Edward… not Edward Elric," Tammie snorted. Sheila was watching me without saying anything.

"Yes," I felt myself say. "Edward. Edward freaking Elric."

"Don't you think you're taking this a little far, Katie?" Tammie groaned and threw her hands up in the air. "I'll admit you have an awesome costume, especially with those gold eye contacts and that awesome automail, but that doesn't make you a _fictional_ character!"

"Gold eye contacts?" I felt like it wasn't even me speaking anymore, though it sounded just like my voice and was coming from my lips.

Then it dawned on me. It wasn't me, it really was someone else. Whether it really was Edward Elric or not who was possessing me, I was being possessed, all the same. I wasn't in control of my own body anymore, and I wasn't even acting like myself. It had to be possession.

"Katie's got it," the other person muttered through my lips. Tammie and Sheila didn't seem to hear. The person then sighed and looked back at them. "Katie's parents didn't let her get gold eye contacts, remember? They said it would damage her eyes too much, so she had to go with her normal eyes instead. Her eyes must have turned gold because I'm in here."

"And if you're not Katie, then how do you know that her parents said that?" Tammie scoffed.

"Because I've been hanging around her a while!" the person snapped back. He glared at her for a minute and stood up. "I'm Edward Elric. Katie's wearing the same clothes I did a hundred years ago."

"She found that stuff at thrift shops."

"Because I helped it get there in the first place," Edward snapped back.

"What do you want with her?" Sheila said, cutting off their argument. "Edward Elric or not, if you're possessing her, then you want something, don't you?" Edward was frozen in place for a moment, then sighed and relaxed his position.

"I didn't mean for this to happen," he said, closing his eyes. "I've been hanging around Katie for a… while now. When I saw her in all my old clothes, I just… accidentally jumped into her. I didn't mean to hurt her in any way."

'_Cat, can you hear me?'_

I jerked at the voice. It sounded like it had come out of nowhere. And Cat? What did it mean by Cat? The voice chuckled.

'_It's me, Ed. It's easier to communicate telepathically since we're in the same body. Just concentrate your thoughts and I'll hear you fine.'_

'_Oh. Um, okay. Were you talking to me when you said Cat?'_

'_Oh, right, I forgot you're not used to me calling you that. It's my nickname for you, since your name's Katie and you like cats so much.'_

I laughed, but it didn't reach my physical lips. Tammie and Shelia were starting to look at me funny after Edward had been silent for so long. He took a deep breath and looked between them.

"I swear, I don't want to hurt her in any way," Edward said slowly. "I'm going to try and get her back to normal as soon as I can. I don't know why my hair or my automail became a part of Katie, but I don't intend for it to stay that way if I have anything to say in the matter."

"Your hair?" Tammie frowned. Edward scratched the back of my head.

"Yeah. This guy really picked everything he could off my corpse and sold it all for money."

"That's really…" Sheila began. Edward sighed and shook my head.

"Look, it doesn't matter whether you believe I'm really Edward Elric or not. I know that's all a television show to you guys, so it's logical you wouldn't think to believe me. Just forget I'm here and let Katie have her fun, alright?"

Tammie and Sheila exchanged glances.

'_Cat?'_

'_Yeah?' _I jolted. I wasn't used to the new nickname.

'_Thanks for believing me. This is the best proof I have.'_

An image flitted across my mind.

It was a large office with a desk standing at the front of the room. A man with dark black hair sat behind the desk. I looked over to my side. There was a boy with messy hair that was a cross between blond and brown. I grinned at him, and he smiled back at me.

I gasped when I realized the image was one of Edward's memories. The man with black hair had to be Roy, and the boy I had seen must have been Al. And he was no longer bound to the armor, at that. So Edward had succeeded. I smiled.

'_And Cat?'_

'_What?'_

'_Stop thinking of me as Edward. It's too formal for a friend. I'm just Ed, okay?'_

I grinned again, but that time it reached my physical lips. The haze was falling away from my eyes. Ed was letting me have control of my own body again.

'_Okay, Ed.'_

I then looked at my friends, who looked too shell-shocked to be able to say anything. I smiled and stretched out my sore muscles.

"It's me again," I said to them. I felt the most relieved I had the entire night. It felt so much better to actually know what the nagging feeling at the back of my mind was. "He's not lying, you guys. But he's going to let me trick-or-treat with you. We've only been to two houses. I think we should do more than that tonight."

My friends nodded, still watching me as if they were expecting Ed to take control again. I tried smiling again to reassure them as I set down the street.

I had always heard the phrase "be careful what you wish for" through my childhood, but I hadn't thought much of it. I had never thought that not only would my wish to _meet_ Edward Elric would come true, but in a skewed sense I would even get to _become_ Edward Elric. The old saying seemed to hold some truth, after all.

_**I hope you all enjoyed that. Check back soon. The next chapter should be up shortly.**_


	2. Chapter 2

**I DO NOT OWN THIS STORY. THIS IS A REWRITE. AGENT000 GAVE ME PERMISSION TO REWRITE IT. I AM NOT STEALING IT. **

**Okay, now that you've all seen that, I can actually say what I want to. So… This is AdventureAddict talking here, some of you may or may not know me. Agent000 and I have gotten a team account, and our first project is taking one of the other's old stories and rewriting it. This was said in the Author's Note last chapter, but it seems not many people read the ANs nowadays, considering how many of you came close to reporting Vanilla and Chocolate for stealing. **

**Let's get this straight. **

**VANILLA AND CHOCOLATE IS THE SHARED ACCOUNT OF AGENT000 AND ADVENTUREADDICT.**

**That is all. Have fun reading. **

**Disclaimer: What? Okay, I don't claim to own Edward Elric, he merely owns me instead. I'm sure he likes being able to go around bragging about **_**owning**_** someone. **

Chapter Two

'_How am I going to hide this from my parents?'_ I reached up and fingered a strand of my newly-blond hair. My parents had set down very clearly that I wasn't allowed to dye my hair until I was eighteen. They didn't like the damage it could cause to my hair.

'_Tonight you'll be fine,'_ Ed reassured me. I shivered and wrapped my coat tighter around my shouldered. I had never thought Halloween night would end up being so cold. It was only October, after all. _'They expect you to look like this tonight. The only thing you have to hide from them is your eyes.'_

'_I don't know if I can do that.'_

'_Do you want me to deal with them instead?'_ I sighed in relief at Ed's suggestion. He chuckled and seemed to take my response as a yes, as I could feel the familiar fog starting to settle over my eyes once more. Once it felt like I had lost all control, Ed took a deep breath and put my hand on the doorknob. He then walked inside, fluttering my eyelids as if he were tired.

"Hey sweetie, how'd it go?" my mom said as soon as Ed was inside. She wrapped us in a hug, making Ed stiffen in surprise from the contact.

"Fine," Ed muttered, taking two steps away from my mother. He kept my eyes nearly closed and rubbed at one eye with a yawn. I grinned. I saw right away what his plan was. As long as he pretended he was exhausted, my parents wouldn't be able to properly seen my eyes, and then he could escape to my bedroom.

"I told you her costume turned out well," my father said, and my mother nodded with a grin plastered on her face.

"I feel so bad about needing to work late," my mom said. Ed sighed and shrugged, still keeping my eyes a centimeter away from closing. His gaze was somewhere between the torsos of my parents and the floor. It started to get a bit harder to tell where he was looking when my eyes were practically closed. It made my vision go blurry.

"Hold it, I'll get the camera and take a picture of you all dressed up," my mom said, turning. I could feel Ed resist the urge to roll his—my—eyes.

'_I guess subtlety isn't going to work with these two.'_ He sighed. I snickered at the comment.

"Look, I'm really tired," Ed said, and my parents both looked at him. "It was a long night, so I just want to go to bed, alright? I'll put my outfit on again later if you want a picture."

"Oh, of course," my mom said, turning back and forgetting about the camera. "I'm sure you're worn out from all your trick-or-treating. You do look exhausted."

Ed breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, I am. G'night." Ed turned to go to my bedroom.

"What about our goodnight hugs?" my dad asked. Ed froze in mid-step, sighed and turned back around. I could feel that he was nervous about hugging my parents goodnight.

"Oh. Right," he said slowly, and approached my father. "I forgot."

My dad immediately enveloped us in a huge hug. I was used to it, but Ed clearly wasn't. My dad gave some of the best bear hugs I knew.

"Night," Ed mumbled and turned to my mom. She hugged us around the shoulders. Her hug was much softer than Dad's hug, and I could feel Ed relax a bit more under her touch. At least, he was relaxed until Mom kissed my forehead.

Ed froze and blinked twice. I wondered when he had last been kissed on the forehead, or even kissed period.

"Er… Goodnight," Ed said, still seeming a bit dazed. He then turned and walked out of the living room and to my bedroom.

'_I'm not used to getting hugged and kissed like that. Such a touchy-feely family. Geez.'_

'_Yeah, I could tell you weren't used to it,'_ I snickered. _'It's okay though, Ed. My parents aren't going to bite.' _

'_Yeah, yeah, I know, I know.'_ Ed sighed and opened the door to my room.

Once the door was closed securely behind me, I could feel the fog beginning to lift from my eyes. Ed kept a little bit of control over my body, however, as he pulled the hair tie out of my hair and grabbed a brush off the dresser. I nearly laughed aloud. It felt like Ed had been getting me ready for bed for years.

'_You know, I can take care of brushing my own hair.'_

"I know," Ed said aloud, smirking at my reflection in the mirror. "But I want to do it."

'_Um, okay.'_ I giggled. I wasn't sure why Ed wanted to brush my hair, but the situation struck me as funny. Here I had thought Ed would do all sorts of amazing things if I met him, and he was simply brushing out my hair before bed. He was silent as he brushed through my hair, occasionally putting the brush down to run my left hand through a tangle. I noticed how careful he was about not touching my new automail arm to my hair.

'_Hey, Ed?'_

"Yeah?" He kept his eyes on the mirror as he talked and brushed my hair. It was an odd feeling to be looking someone in the eyes while I talked to them while also looking myself in the eye.

'_What did you mean when you said you had been hanging around me for a while?' _

"Just what it sounds like," Ed muttered. "I've been hanging around you for a while. Ever since you were born, really." I blinked in surprise. I had never thought Ed the type of guy to do that unless the person was very important to him.

'_But… What about your brother?'_

"Al." Ed stopped brushing my hair and turned away from the mirror to look at the wall. I could feel a small smile tug at the corners of his lips.

'_What happened to Al?'_ I prodded. Ed shook his head and picked up the brush again.

"I died before him," he said softly. "Al lived a much longer life than me, died, and became a wonderful person." I laughed. The way Ed phrased things didn't seem to always make sense. I had gotten used to it after hearing his comments in my head through the night.

'_You mean that Al grew up to be a wonderful person and then died, right?' _

"Er…" Ed jolted. He did that every time I corrected his grammar. "…Yeah. Right. That's what I meant."

'_And what did you mean when you said you didn't mean for this to happen?'_ Ed rested both my hands on the dresser.

"I haven't had a body of my own for a few years. And then you got so into that television show that's based off me, I figured I'd help you out," he sighed. "I guess the whole thing ended up getting a little… out of control. I didn't mean for you to get _all_ my old clothes. And then when you were wearing all of them… I… I guess I forgot that you're really not me, and I kind of… hopped into you body."

'_But what about the automail and my eyes?'_

"I have no idea how that happened," Ed sighed and ran a hand through my bangs. "My best guess would be that you and I have sort of… bound together and you ended up taking some of my characteristics. Like we've blended into one body with two souls."

"So you can't get out of my body?" I said, and was surprised to hear my words spoken aloud. I could feel Ed letting go of his control over my body.

'_I've tried. I'm sort of… stuck. Or at least, that's the best way I know of how to put it,' _He answered back with a sigh. I bit my lip and pulled my nightgown out of one of my dresser drawers. Ed groaned.

"What?" I said with a chuckle, unfolding the nightgown.

'_I know you're a girl and all, but… do you really have to wear that? Can't you wear those old penguin pajamas or something?'_ I laughed again and shook my head.

"Ed, I outgrew those pajamas when I was _five_," I said. Ed sighed heavily.

'_Oh, yeah…'_

"You might be surprised at how comfortable a nightgown really is," I said to Ed. A sensation passed over him that felt as if he wanted to roll his eyes, but didn't have the body to do so. A spiritual eye roll.

'_And you might be surprised at how _un_comfortable a nightgown would be for a guy who's never worn any sort of dress before,'_ he retorted.

"Ed, I don't want to wear pant bottoms to bed," I sighed, though I was still smiling. It was funny to listen to Ed, even though I did feel a bit sorry for the poor guy. I knew I would feel awkward if I had been the one trapped in a boy's body.

'_Fine, fine, I give up. It's your body, after all. Just don't tell anyone the great Edward Elric wore a dress to bed.'_ He sighed heavily. I chuckled and shook my head. Ed was more of a nut than I had thought from watching the anime.

"My lips are sealed," I said as I slipped the nightgown over my head. Ed seemed a bit awkward at the idea of me changing, but he stayed silent anyway.

I was realizing just how tired I really had gotten from the night of trick-or-treating. My whole body felt like it ached. Bed was sounding like a better and better idea. I ran my left hand through my hair once more and turned to go to bed.

'_Wait, what was that?'_

I jerked at Ed's voice. He had said the sentence so suddenly that it had surprised me. I turned to look back at the mirror. "What was what?"

'_Your hair. Fluff it like that again.'_

I frowned. I didn't understand what Ed had seen and was seeming so confused over. I leaned in close to the mirror and rubbed at my hair with my left hand slowly. I didn't want to rub at it with my right hand for fear of the metal getting tangled in my hair.

'_There it is again!'_

"There's _what_?" I groaned, putting my hands on my hips. I hadn't seen anything wrong with my hair for Ed to point out. He sighed, and I could feel the fog settling over my eyes again. Ed frowned and picked at strands of my hair with my left hand.

"Aha!" he said after a minute, pulling out one strand. Finally I saw what he had been talking about. There among all the blond hair, was a strand of dark brown hair, the same shade my hair had once been. Ed reached his hand back to my hair again, and grabbed the very bottommost layer of hair and brought it forward to see. The entire bottom layer of my hair was the same brown it had once been.

"Two souls, one body," Ed muttered, and then smiled. "I guess you got to keep some of your own characteristics, after all."

'_I guess so. But now it really looks like I dyed my hair. My mom's going to throw a fit when she sees that.' _I sighed.

"We'll deal with that in the morning. Right now the most important thing is sleep," Ed said with a grin as he slid my hair back into place.

'_Well, look who's Mr. Mature.'_ I laughed. Ed smirked and shook my head before letting go and giving me control again.

'_Yeah, that tends to happen when you're not twelve years old. Still thinking of me like I'm an anime character. You think I'm going to throw a fit at everything and act like an immature brat, huh? Well…'_

I rolled my eyes and sighed. Sure, Ed could say he was more mature than the anime portrayal of him, but the ranting didn't help his case at all. I turned off the lights in my room and slid into my bed, pulling the covers up to my chin.

"How old were you when you died, anyway?" I whispered into the darkness. Ed chuckled.

'_Nineteen. We can talk more about that tomorrow. Go to sleep.'_

Going to sleep was a lot easier said than done for both me and Ed. We had both been through a long day, and while my body was exhausted, neither of our minds were quite ready to go to sleep. I could feel Ed's thoughts racing as I drifted off to sleep. He didn't hide his musings from me, and my head filled with questions over why I had gotten an automail arm from Ed being stuck to me, and wondering if I would be able to get back to normal.

The last thought I could remember thinking before falling asleep was that while I didn't like the thought of having automail the rest of my life, I also trusted Ed.

He seemed both nervous and comforted by the thought.

I woke up the next morning and practically tripped out of bed. I was still used to having two flesh legs, and getting up and remembering two seconds two late that my left leg had recently become metal was not the most pleasant of mornings.

"Morning, Ed," I mumbled, rubbing at my eyes. He grunted in reply. It seemed like neither of us were morning people. Which was a pity, since someone needed to go through the morning routine. I sure didn't want to be the one who needed to wake up and face the day.

"Ow." I frowned and stretched out my flesh limbs. I was a lot sorer than I had ever been after waking up in the morning. It felt like I had recently rammed into a brick wall or done some other similar activity.

'_Sorry. I think that's my fault,'_ Ed sighed. _'I tend to thrash around in my sleep a lot. You might have a couple bruises.' _

"Oh." I blinked and rubbed at my shoulder. "Well, at least then I know why I'm sore." I paused and looked in the mirror. "There's no way I can go down to breakfast looking like this." I bit my lip as I looked myself over. No way would my parents be fine with letting me walk around with blond hair or automail that they thought was part of a costume.

'_Maybe I can help with that,'_ Ed said, seeming to consider my appearance. _'Your hair just needs to be dyed, and the automail can be covered up with the right clothes.' _

'_How can I dye my hair though?'_ I though back to him. I didn't want my mom to hear me talking to myself in the quiet of the morning and come in my room to check up on me. _'I can't go out of the house to buy any hair dye when my hair's already blond.'_

'_Well… I could always see if a little alchemy might work,'_ Ed said, seeming to consider the thought carefully as he said it. _'Then you'd just need a bowl full of water.' _

'_I think I could manage that,' _I thought back, trying to think of if I could manage to sneak to the bathroom and get some water without my parents noticing me. As long as they didn't get out of their bedroom and walk down the hall while I was going to the bathroom, I figured I'd be fine. _'But… are you sure you can do alchemy? I thought you couldn't do it in this world.'_

'_Nah, I can do it fine in this world,'_ Ed shrugged. _'That part about the anime is wrong. It's the fact that I'd be doing it through your body instead of my own that has me worried. But I think I can pull it off.'_

'_Okay, then one bowl of water coming up,'_ I laughed.

I carefully opened the door to my room, checking to see if my parents were up and about. It seemed empty, so I flung the door open wide and scurried to the other side of the hall and into the bathroom. I felt like I was being a dangerous criminal rather than just making my hair look like it was the right color it was supposed to be. I took a few deep breaths and then turned on the faucet and let the sink begin to fill with water.

'_Okay, let me see those strands of your normal hair one more time,' _Ed said. I nodded and pulled forward a chunk of the bottom layer of my hair that was its normal color. I stared into the mirror for a minute, letting Ed get a good look at the hair color.

'_Okay,'_ he said after a minute, and I let go of my hair. I could feel the fog beginning to settle over my eyes. I let it settle over me as best I could, hoping that the more Ed was in control instead of me, the better he would be able to do alchemy.

'_What about all this light and noise though?' _I asked when Ed had control. _'My parents might notice that and…'_ Ed chuckled.

'_Katie. Stop thinking that my life mirrors that 2-D anime kid you saw,'_ he said firmly. _'There's similarities, but I didn't live that exact life. And those TV people really messed up with their thoughts about what alchemy looks like.' _

'_They… did?'_ I felt a little stunned. I hadn't considered that the real Ed's life might be very different from the anime, but it did make sense once I thought about it.

'_Let me see if I can show you some _real_ alchemy,'_ Ed said with a smirk. I chuckled.

He took a deep breath and looked at the water. I could feel his thoughts flicker back to the color of my hair and then back to the water. I then nearly fell over when an enormous amount of numbers and diagrams raced through my head. I knew it had to all be related with turning the water into a hair dye that would match my hair color, but all the calculations were going by too fast for me to even try comprehending any of them. I wondered if Ed was even consciously thinking of all the calculations or if he had been doing alchemy so long that it had become subconscious for him.

"Okay, here goes nothing," he muttered and then clapped his hands together.

I felt a warm energy rush through my body. I was curious about what it could be, so I investigated. The energy almost had a certain… Ed-ish feel to it. I frowned and poked at it.

"Leave it," Ed snapped, clapping his hands to the sink. "You don't want to make your hair dye toxic, do you?" I jumped back from the energy with a nod. I was only curious why the energy felt like Ed. I didn't want to mess him up.

After a minute, Ed pulled away from the sink and brushed my bangs out of my face with a sigh. The water had turned a murky brown color.

'_I didn't mean to snap at you. I just didn't want to waste any more energy than I was already using,' _he said slowly. _'Alchemy works a bit differently here, so I have to use my own energy. I didn't want you to sap any of it and make it harder for me.'_

'_Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—'_

'_Don't worry about it,'_ Ed said back. He really did sound like he was tired. I could feel him let go and relax back in my body, letting me be the one in control. I bit my lip. I didn't like that he had gotten tired over just performing a transmutation for my sake.

'_Don't worry about it, Cat. Just dip your hair into the water.' _I nodded and did as Ed told me. I could feel an almost… cold feeling spread up to my scalp. I shivered and pulled my head away from the water.

When I looked in the mirror, my hair looked just like it always had. I grinned and leaned closer to the mirror, jumping slightly in place.

"Ed, you're amazing! Thank you!" I said quickly. He chuckled, seeming amused by my reaction.

'_You're welcome. I never thought I'd be called amazing just for a simple transmutation of water though.' _He paused for a second, the added, _'It'll wash out in a couple days, and if I don't know how to get you back to normal by then, I'll have to redo the dye. Just be careful not to get more water on your head than you need. The more water, the faster the dye will wash out.'_

'_I'll keep that in mind,' _I thought back, carefully reaching my flesh hand into the sink to drain it.

I carefully crept back through the hall to my room, not wanting to get caught by my parents with my automail arm and leg. But at least that would be somewhat easier to calm them down over than hair that wasn't my normal hair color. I could always claim I had been so tired that I had accidentally left on the metal parts from my costume before going to bed.

With Ed's advice, I carefully picked the baggiest long sleeve shirt I had in my wardrobe. Normally I hated the fact that the sleeves were so long they would keep covering my hands, but when one of my hands was automail, that very disadvantage became a plus. I needed to find some way to make sure I could hide the automail from my parents.

'_Now just wear some sunglasses to cover your eyes and you should be fine,'_ Ed said when I was looking over my appearance in the mirror. I bit my lip. That was going to seem suspicious to my mom for sure. Nevertheless, I pulled a pair of sunglasses of my dresser and put them on.

I headed down to breakfast carefully, trying my hardest not to make my left foot thump louder than my right. I didn't want anything about me to stick out more than it already did.

"Good morning, sweetie," My mom said when I entered the kitchen. I smiled back at her. "I made you some scrambled eggs and put them at your seat."

"Thanks, Mom." I sat down at my seat.

'_Be careful with your right hand. I'm not sure whether you have the same control on it as I did when I was alive. You could easily bend that fork.' _

'_Good thing I'm left handed, then,'_ I laughed, putting a forkful of eggs in my mouth with my left hand.

'_Yeah, good thing.' _

I chuckled silently between bites of eggs, and then reached for the glass of milk my mom had placed at my seat. Breakfast seemed to be moving smoothly enough.

I immediately spat the milk back out, spluttering. I slammed the glass back on the table and stared at it with a look of confusion. My mom looked over at me.

"Mom, the milk must be sour," I said. "It tastes _awful_." My mom frowned and walked over to the table, picking up my glass. She sniffed at the milk, then took a sip and licked her lips thoughtfully.

"It tastes fine to me," she declared after a minute. "You can always have some orange juice if you want." I nodded and stood up, walking over to the fridge. I needed something to get the taste of that awful milk out of my mouth. I wasn't sure how my mom could say it tasted fine.

'_People always told me milk tasted fine too,' _Edward sulked. _'At least you didn't throw up from drinking that sip.'_

'_You used to throw up from milk?' _I said in surprise as I grabbed the orange juice from the fridge and then turned and grabbed a glass form the cabinet. Ed nodded with a scowl. _'So you think milk suddenly tastes bad for me because of you?'_

'_Probably. I—'_

"Sweetie, why are you dressed like that?" My mom said, interrupting Ed in the middle of his sentence. I jerked. I knew she would notice the baggy shirt and sunglasses soon enough. My mind went blank. I had no idea what to tell her. Thankfully, I could feel Ed slipping into control.

"There's a presentation in class today," he said, turning around and smiling at my mom. "I get to play the hobo. I wanted to make sure I wouldn't misplace my sunglasses, so I figured I'd just wear them."

"Oh, alright," my mom said, seeming taken aback by my answer. I knew she wasn't used to the thought of school presentations involving parts and costumes, much less me actually taking a part more important than the tree. I had terrible stage fright.

Ed poured out the glass of orange juice and practically chugged it, making sure to swish it around my mouth to get rid of any leftover milk taste. He then grabbed my backpack from of the floor and slung it over one shoulder.

"Have a good day at school, honey," my mom called out. She had already gone back to washing the dishes in the kitchen.

"Bye," Ed called back, and was then out the front door in a flash. He breathed a sigh of relief and leaned against the door, letting go of control again. It seemed a little ridiculous how often we were flipping back and forth, but I was more than happy to let Ed deal with my parents when something needed to be covered up. He was a much better liar.

'_That was a little close,'_ He said, and I nodded in agreement, beginning the walk to school. _'We'll have to try and be even more careful at school to make sure you don't stick out too much compared to your normal behavior.'_ I bit my lip.

I couldn't agree more. I just wasn't sure if the task would be possible.

**So… reading over this whole story again, I pretty much slapped a hand to my forehead and went "Holy crap, what did I get myself into here?" I had to go through the entire original story and take notes for myself in order to make sure I get all this right. Here's hoping I do. –crosses fingers- **


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey, it's been a while! AdventureAddict here with another exciting new chapter of My Body, Your Soul! –crowd cheers- Tonight we have a very special guest, Edward Elric! –crowd cheers again- And—Eh, forget it, this isn't a talk show. **

**Ed: What? You called me out here for nothing?! **

**Uh… You can still say the disclaimer. **

**Ed: She's lame enough to do a fake talk show and you're questioning if she owns Fullmetal Alchemist or not? No one that lame is allowed to own FMA. **

…**-sniffle- You're so mean! **

**Ed: You called me out here for nothing! **

Chapter Three

"Hey, Katie! What's with the weird outfit?"

I paused in my footsteps and looked over my shoulder. Tammie was grinning and waving at me. I smiled and waved back, waiting for her to catch up to me.

"So, what's up with the clothes?" Tammie said when she was close enough that we were walking to school together. "You look like you're dressed to be the hobo in a school presentation." I sighed. At least Ed's excuse looked believable with my outfit.

"I had to cover up my automail," I said. I was so relieved that I had at least two friends who knew about Ed that I could confide in. I had trouble keeping secrets from people, especially such a big secret.

"Oh yeah," Tammie said, getting a huge grin. "That stuff's not just a covering of your arm, is it? So it really runs just like the automail in the show? Can you take it out? What do all the wires look like inside? Kaaaatie, can I see?"

"Ah!" I yelped and jumped backwards as Tammie grabbed at me. I held my right arm protectively to my chest. I didn't know how I would manage to get my automail fixed if I let anything happen to it. A mechanic who would know how to work with automail would be incredibly hard to find. Tammie pouted as if I just told her Christmas was canceled.

"Look, I just don't want anything to happen to this automail," I said, biting my lip. "If it gets broken, I'd be in big trouble. My parents would notice if one of my arms suddenly stopped moving at all, or if it wasn't attached to my shoulder anymore."

"Fine," Tammie sighed heavily. "Why do you always have to use logic against me like that? I hate when you do that. She scowled and stuck her tongue out at me. I laughed and relaxed. It was funny how in a show based mainly around alchemy, Tammie had gotten obsessed over the prosthetic limbs.

'_Winry at heart,'_ Ed muttered with a spiritual eye roll. _'But let's not test that theory and lend her any wrenches.' _

I giggled. Tammie looked over at me and raised an eyebrow, obviously wondering what the joke was.

"Ed was just saying that it was funny how much you remind him of Winry," I explained. Tammie stared at me for a second, then grinned and jammed her pockets.

"I guess I do act a bit like her," Tammie laughed. She paused for a minute, letting a serious expression settle over her face before she looked back to me. "Speaking of Ed, he's… he's treating you nicely, right?"

"Of course, Tammie," I smiled. "He's been a gentleman the whole time. He even put up with me—"

'_No! You promised you wouldn't tell about the nightgown!' _

'_Oh yeah, right, sorry._ _It's not like she would think less of you for it though.' _

'_Caaaaat…' _

"He even put up with what?" Tamie asked, frowning. I chuckled nervously and scratched at the back of my head.

"He put up with all sorts of girly things," I said, thinking frantically. It was true, Ed had put up with some girly actions in my life that needed to be down anyway, such as the underwear that was definitely different from his. "I could tell he was a little embarrassed about me changing my clothes while he was in there, but he knew it had to be done, so he put up with it."

'_Oh, yeah, that's so much better than telling her about the nightgown,'_ Ed muttered.

'_You're just a nut,' _I snickered.

'_Why, thank you.'_ I grinned and shook my head. The guy was only proving my point. I guessed that he didn't mind being called silly. After all, he had been called much worse things in his life and not even batted an eye at some of them. And I knew that with an Ed, silly was definitely better than short.

'_Don't even go there,'_ Ed said with a heavy sigh, picking up on the general gist of my thoughts. My grin widened. He was just too much fun to have around. I had no idea how I'd be able to pay attention through the rest of the school day.

"Hey, Katie?" Tammie said. I turned away from the conversation with Edward and back to Tammie. She looked as if she were a bit nervous or worried about something. Or maybe she was both. "This, might be a little awkward for you, but… Do you mind if I ask a favor of you? Could I talk to Ed directly, please?"

"Sure, Tammie, that's no problem," I said, feeling relived to hear what she was really nervous about. I had been beginning to worry that it was something much more serious. I took a deep breath, and let Ed step forward and pull the fog over my eyes.

'_You know, if you get really good at this, someday you might be able to completely lose control when someone else is in your body. You won't even remember what happened while the other person was in control then.'_

'_Wow, that kind of sounds dangerous,'_ I replied back nervously.

'_It is. Just like driving a car is dangerous. You just have to know what you're dealing with and protect yourself.'_ I nodded. That made enough sense.

"Okay, it's me," Ed said, turning back to Tammie. I wondered if I really was getting better at letting him have full control. He had pitched my voice a bit lower than I did when I talked. I wondered if he had been doing that the whole time I had been dealing with him in my body, or if I had only begun to notice it instead.

"Look, Ed, I just want to make sure nothing bad will happen to Katie like this," Tammie said, looking at Ed with a frown. I felt him flinch slightly. I could understand it. I never liked to be on the receiving end of one of her glares either.

"I'm not going to let anything bad happen to her," Ed replied in a firm tone. "I'm going to make sure to take care of Katie as long as I'm around her, inside her body or not."

"That's not what I'm worried the most about," Tammie said with a wave of her hand. "If Katie says you've been a gentleman, then you've been a gentleman. What I'm worried about is if there's any accidents or circumstances you'd be unprepared for."

"I'm not—" Ed started.

"Like the automail. You didn't think that would happen to her, did you?" Tammie said, and Ed closed my mouth instantly. "Look, I don't want to hurt you, Ed, but I don't want you to not be prepared for something bad to happen. I want Katie to come out of this in one piece."

"Me too," Ed mumbled. I could feel his thoughts sink deep into thoughts of how Tammie was right, and mulling over a hundred different what ifs. I bit my lip. I didn't like seeing Ed so worried. I was prepared to deal with hard circumstances if it meant having him around.

I was just about to speak up and tell him so myself when I was interrupted by a girl jumping into the area in front of Ed. He jolted, and I felt the fog lift immediately lift from my eyes. I had never seen him let go of his control so quickly.

It was Trisha, or as the kids at school like to call her, the shadow jumper. Tammie sighed. Trisha was a weird one alright. She liked to go around jumping on people's shadows. No one was really sure why she liked doing it so much. I wouldn't have minded her quirkiness so much if it were for the fact that she seemed to be a bit of a know-it-all at times.

"Gotcha," Trisha grinned, looking up at me. She was planted firmly in the middle of my shadow. "A nice jump like that to make a spirit jolt. I surprised you, didn't I?"

"Trisha, it's just a shadow," Tammie sighed. Ed jolted a bit at the name, but stayed silent. I couldn't help but think over Trisha's words. She had made a spirit jolt, specifically Ed. He had even jolted enough to let go of his control over my body.

But there was no way she knew she had affected a second soul inside my body. Nobody knew about Ed being inside me, and even if she guessed at something along those lines, there was no way jumping on a shadow would jerk at someone's spirit. Spirits and shadows were two different things.

"It's not just a shadow," Trisha laughed. We both waited for her to explain why exactly a shadow wasn't "just a shadow," but Trisha didn't seem to want to go on. That was one of the annoying things about her. She flipped between telling you too little and too much information. It was hard to know what to expect with her.

"You're different from how you usually are," Trisha said, peering closer at me. I gulped. Was it possible that she really could know about Ed? No, that was silly. There was no way. "I think I'll keep an eye on you for a few days." Trisha then winked at me, and turned around and ran in the direction of the school. Tammie and I stood there blinking for a half second.

"She's so weird," Tammie sighed after a bit, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. "She almost reminds me of Luna Lovegood, but at least Luna is more towards the lucid in a daze kind of druggie. Trisha… she must be on crack or something."

'…_That was weird.' _Ed said slowly. I nodded in agreement with his words, though Tammie took it as me nodding to her words.

'_Do you think she's really crazy, or might she know something important?'_ I thought back. Ed frowned and pondered over the idea.

'_I'm not sure. She could easily be either one,'_ he said slowly. _'But we should keep an eye on her just in case.'_

'_Sounds good to me.' _

Thankfully, Tammie and I weren't very far from the school, but being stopped by Trisha had made us go from being on time to being late. I hated getting to school late, but unfortunately I was late quite often, since I wasn't much of a morning person.

I hurried through the halls of the school to my classroom. I groaned aloud when I saw that the class had already started. Curse that Trisha and her shadow-jumping. I figured there was no reason to even attempt hiding my tardiness. I was usually late getting to the school anyway, but at least I almost always made it to the classroom before the actual class started.

I could feel everyone look up at me when I entered the room. I hug my head and hung my coat on the coat rack, then unpacked my backpack and sat down in my seat. Mr. Keeley raised an eyebrow and looked at me with an amused smile.

"You have ten seconds to get those sunglasses somewhere I can't see them, Miss Greene," Mr., Keeley said with a wink at me. I jolted in my seat. I had forgotten about my sunglasses. I grabbed them off my nose and shoved them in my desk. I was just glad Mr. Keeley hadn't taken them away from me, no excuses.

"As I was saying, I'm sure you all had a very… _exciting_ Halloween evening," Mr. Keeley said, focusing his eyes on me as he talked. I sank in my seat, feeling blood rush to my cheeks. "But I didn't get any candy of my own, so if I catch you guys sneaking Halloween candy in here, I'm taking it for my lunch. We're starting with Math."

I sighed and pulled my math book out of the desk just like everyone else in the classroom was doing. Why did Mr. Keeley have to start with math? He was a cool enough teacher, but Algebra really wasn't my strong suit. I especially hated when we had to start the day with an Algebra lesson. It made me go through the rest of the day feeling like I was stupid just because I couldn't work through a few math problems.

"Page 270," Mr. Keeley called out. The class groaned. "You have until 8:30 to work."

Immediately one student's hand shot up. Mr. Keeley went over to them, looking over their shoulder. I sighed in relief. It meant that I didn't have to deal with Mr. Keeley coming to my desk to look over my shoulder and see how I was doing. It made me feel so uncomfortable when he did that. He knew I was doing badly with Algebra and needed help, but I just didn't understand it the way he explained it.

'_Maybe I can help.'_

I sighed at Ed's voice. I appreciated the offer, but I wasn't sure if his help would work. Algebra was just too much for me. I could handle plain old arithmetic fine, but not algebra.

'_You'd like to learn alchemy, wouldn't you?' _

'_Of course!'_ I said back quickly with a grin. The alchemy in FMA was amazing; of course I wished I could be able to do that. Would Ed spend an hour teaching me how to do alchemy instead of algebra? It seemed so much more useful.

'_You've got to build yourself a toolbox before you can build a house,'_ Ed chuckled. _'Before you can start doing alchemy properly, you need to know a good chunk of Geometry and Trigonometry, and before you can learn either of those, you need to be able to do algebra pretty confidently." _

'_Great, I'm never going to learn alchemy,'_ I moaned.

'_Don't look at the whole picture right now. Let's just focus on that first problem for now. We can work on harder alchemy later. These books usually start out the assignment with easier problems and work up to hard, so we'll just break it down one problem at a time, okay? If you don't get one of the easier problems, we'll stay on that one until you're okay with moving on to the hard stuff. So what's the first problem?'_ I sighed.

'_x squared plus 10x equals -21 iff x is greater than -5.' _

'_Okay, let's start with the easiest bit,' _Ed said. I could feel him getting excited about tackling a math problem. I rolled my eyes. What a dork. _'iff stands for if and only if, right? So this rule only applies where x is a higher number than -5.'_

'…_Okay.'_

'_So what would you do to make this easier to work with?'_ I groaned. Ed frowned and tried a different approach. _'Okay, then tell me what a problem similar to this would look like in plain arithmetic.' _

'_There wouldn't be two sides to the problem,'_ I grumbled.

'_There you go! So let's take that 21 and add it to both sides. Read me what you've got.' _

'_x squared plus 10x plus 21 equals 0.' _

'_That's easier to work with. Now if we could just get it down to an x equals something, we'd know what x is, since x has to be the opposite of whatever the number is in order to reach 0.' _

'_Yeah, that'd be nice.'_ I sighed and drew a loop-de-loop with my pencil.

'_You can do that here too.'_ I jolted and looked at the paper.

'_Really? How?'_

'_You tell me how, Cat.' _I nearly grumbled at Ed as he leaned back inside me in a lazy fashion. It was so easy for him, the stinker. I ground my teeth together and stared at the problem. I would show him.

'_Factoring,'_ I declared after a minute. Ed grinned and sat back up.

'_Right. So you take the two numbers that will multiply to 21 and add to 10, because that's what happens to the problem when you multiply out two parentheses. What—"_

'_3 and 7,'_ I shot back at him with a smirk.

'_Great,'_ Ed grinned. _'So what happens when you split the middle term?'_

'_x squared plus 3x plus 7x plus 21 equals 0.' _

'_Okay, so now we factor the common numbers out of each half and make sure they match up.'_

I grinned. I could do _that_. I factored an x out of the first half, and a 7 out of the next. Sure enough, the numbers did match up.

'_Now the two (x plus 3) groups match up, so you mush them together,' _Ed said. He was obviously reading over my work even if I didn't show him. _'And then you've got…'_

'_(x plus 3)(x plus 7) equals 0,' I beamed. _

'_Right. And since those are multiplied, at least one of them has to equal 0, so we set them both equal to 0 and see what we get.' _

'_-3 and -7,'_ I thought back. _'So that's what I put down as my answer?'_

'_Hang on,'_ Ed said quickly. _'Always look back to the information you were given and make sure you didn't forget anything. Read me that first line again.'_

'_x squared plus 10x equals -21…'_

'_Did we take care of that?'_

'_Yeah.'_

'_Okay, then keep going.'_

'…_iff x is greater than -5.'_

'_Aha,' _Ed smirked. _'Did we remember that x can only equal numbers above -5?'_

'…_No.'_

'_Okay, then go through your answer and cross off any solutions that are less than -5.' _I crossed off the -7 and left the -3 alone. _'Is there any other given information we didn't use?'_

'_Nope.'_

'_Okay, _now_ we're done. What's your answer?' _

'_-3,'_ I grinned. I could feel Ed grin back at me. _'Thank you so much, Ed!' _

'_No problem, Cat. You know this stuff, it just overwhelms you when you look at the big picture instead of breaking a problem down step by step. Then it's a lot easier, isn't it?'_

'_Yeah, it sure is.'_

"How's the assignment going today, Miss Greene?" I jolted at the voice and spun around to see Mr. Keeley standing behind me. I grinned at him and pointed to the completed first problem on my piece of paper.

"I'm already done with the first problem," I told him proudly. Mr. Keeley leaned forward, reading over my work. After a moment, he clicked his tongue and looked back at me.

"Miss Greene," he said, and I winced slightly. His tone didn't sound good. But how could that be? Ed had helped me through the problem, and Ed wouldn't get it wrong! "Tell me, what has changed you between yesterday and today that you managed to get through this problem in class and got it right as well?"

"I had a friend who noticed I was having trouble with my math, and he taught me how to break a problem down and tackled it one small step at a time," I grinned. So I wasn't in trouble after all.

"Well, give my thanks to that friend of yours," Mr. Keeley smiled. "He seems to have made my job a lot easier. He would be a great candidate for the student math tutor I've been looking for. I know a few students in the school who could use a little extra help but don't want it from a teacher."

"Well…" I fidgeted with my hands nervously. "I'm sure he'd love to help if he could, sir, but he has a tendency of biting off more than he can chew."

"Just a thought," Mr. Keeley shrugged. "Keep it up, Miss Greene."

"Yes, sir," I grinned back.

'_You with your sirs and ma'ams,'_ Ed sighed. He sounded amused. _'Always so formal with everyone.'_

'_But formality is fun!'_ I laughed. Ed chuckled with me.

'_So I have a tendency to bite off more than I can chew, huh?'_

'_Yes, you do,'_ I snickered. _'And don't you try denying that.'_

'_Fine, I bite off more than I can chew,' _Ed said with a melodramatic sob. _'You're just a mean bully.'_

'_Am not, you're just a goofball.'_

'_Yeah, I suppose I am.'_ Ed smirked._ 'There's something else that silly anime of yours missed out on.'_

'_Too bad,' _I laughed. _'You're much funnier this way.'_

'_Oh, and the anime version of me isn't funny at all? I'm hurt, milady, very deeply hurt.' _

'_Nut.'_

'_Yeah, we established that,'_ Ed laughed. _'Now, are we going to tackle that next math problem or not?'_

'_Sure.'_

I chuckled. It seemed like the school days were going to go by a lot faster as long as Ed was around. How many people could claim that Ed was their math tutor, anyway? It was the first time I set my pencil to the paper to tackle a math problem without feeling a sense of dread.

**Ed: I'm bored. **

**Aw, come on, weren't you entertained by the chapter?**

**Ed: Peh. I'm just sitting in this stupid fake talk show room, remember? Because someone said 'Oh, yeah, we're doing a talk show! Everyone will love it! You should come! There'll be ice cream!' **

**I didn't say that!**

**Ed: Liar. **

**Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed that chapter, I have the next one written out, it just needs to be edited and posted, so keep an eye out for that! **


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey everybody! It's finally (FINALLY) been pointed out to me by Agent000 that long ago I had written a chapter for this and never uploaded it. Yup, I'm a real genuis. And yeah, I totoally mispelled genuis on purpose right there. Cuz I smert. Anyway, the spelling in the story isn't horrible, since it was before I lost all my brain cells, so enjoy. **

Chapter Four

I smiled and stretched out my left arm as I walked outside. I kept my right hand in my pocket to keep anyone from seeing my automail hand. It was a perfect fall day; not too warm and not too cool. It was great for going out to play a game of soccer, though the fun of soccer seemed a little debatable in my mind.

'_Ha, soccer!' _I felt what seemed like a whoop of excitement come from Ed inside me. _'Now there's something we can rock at! This'll be great!'_

'_Have at it,' _I laughed. _'I'm not that good at soccer anyway. I trip over the ball more often than kick it.' _Ed laughed again, and I stuck my tongue out at him even though I wanted to laugh at the situation just as much as he was laughing. I couldn't remember seeing him so… happy in the anime. He would be happy for small moments of time, but there was always some sort of underlying seriousness or sadness beneath it.

'_Come on, Cat, hurry up and get out to that field!'_ I laughed and hurried, trying to make sure my shirt kept covering my automail. At least I was lucky enough that no one at school seemed to care about what color my eyes were.

"Heads up!" someone shouted just as I was stepping on the field. I jerked and ducked just in time for a soccer ball to go whooshing over my head. I turned around and looked to see the soccer ball keep flying until it wedged itself in the nook of a tree. Ed laughed and I felt the fog slip over my eyes in a flash.

"Don't worry, I got it!" Ed called out to the boy who had kicked the ball. He turned and then headed for the tree in a light jog, muttering under his breath, "I love climbing trees anyway."

"Can you believe Katie is climbing a tree in school?"

"Hey, Kate, make sure the teacher doesn't catch you, or you'll get in trouble for sure!"

"Don't fall and break any bones, scaredy cat!"

"Don't call me names!" Ed snapped back at them as he wrapped his arms around the tree trunk and started scampering up.

'_Ed, please don't get me in trouble,'_ I whimpered, realizing the implications of what my classmates had said. Ed snorted and flipped his hair.

'_Don't worry about it,'_ he chuckled. _'I have the situation completely in hand.' _

'_Okay, if you say so.' _

Ed continued climbing up the tree towards the soccer ball, while the kids on the field below anxiously watched our ascent. Ed stopped for a second to pause and wave at the other kids with a grin, and half waved back at him and urged him to keep climbing.

"Ha, I've got you now, soccer ball, you're mine," Ed laughed, reaching out his right arm. Just as he said the words, a hiss came from the branches above. Ed jolted, and his arm jerked forward between the fork of the branches, jamming in between the two branches firmly. Ed winced and bit his lip.

"Crap," he sighed and started twisting the automail arm to try and get it free from the branches. He looked up as he did so and a pair of bright green eyes was staring back at us.

"Double crap," Ed sighed, and the green eyes moved forward until there was a complete tabby cat a few branches above in the tree. The kitty paced back and forth a few times and looked at Ed as if she didn't know what to think about us.

"Nice kitty," Ed whispered. "Nice kitty. You don't want to eat uncle Ed, uncle Ed taste bad, not yummy like tasty cat food, no." The cat stopped in her pacing completely and looked at Ed more intently. He sighed and hung his head, still twisting his arm to try and get it free from the branches.

'_Ed, that's not how you deal with a cat,'_ I sighed. He scowled and rolled his eyes.

'_Fine, I give up. How exactly _do_ I deal with a cat then?'_

'_Make your voice soothing. Don't talk funny to the cat like that, she doesn't understand what you want.' _

'_Right. Of course. silly me.' _

The cat hissed again. Ed winced and jerked on his arm.

"Hey, hey, it's fine, I'm nice," he whispered frantically. "You don't want to eat me, right? I'm just trying to get out of your tree here. We're all friends." The cat stared pacing and watching Ed carefully.

'_That's not it either, Ed.'_ I chuckled and sighed.

'_Then tell me what the hell it is, 'cause this cat is starting to freak me out!' _he snapped back.

'_You say things like "Aw, there's a nice widdle baby kitty, you're not going to hurt me, are you? Nooo, nice kitty."' _Ed fell silent, not even bothering to jerk his arm free from the tree branches.

'_You're disgusting, Cat,'_ he muttered after a minute and then turned back to looking at the cat in the tree. He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Aw. There's a nice… widdle… baby… kitty. You're not going to hurt me, are you?" he sighed heavily as the cat froze and stared at him. "No, nice kitty."

'_You have no cat skills, Ed,'_ I laughed, and he snorted.

"Hey, Katie, watch out, the teacher is coming!" a kid from below yelled out.

"Triple crap!" Ed scowled and tried frantically shaking himself free from the tree. The cat didn't take well to the sudden movement and started hissing at Ed again.

"Aw, screw you, I need to get out of this tree!" Ed snapped back at the cat. The cat narrowed her eyes as if she understood just how rude Ed was treating her. Ed didn't seem to notice and went back to jerking on his—my—arm.

"She's almost here!" the kid yelled up at Ed. "Quick, Katie, get out of there, now!"

"Sorry, Cat," Ed whispered and closed his eyes for half a second before pushing up the sleeve of my shirt, and reaching up to the automail arm. He flipped a few switches and braced his—my—flesh arm against the metal arm and closed his eyes with a wince. Just as he pushed backwards, the cat in the tree ran forward to swat at him. He and the cat both fell to the ground, and both fell on their feet.

Ed winced and looked around. The other kids were staring at us as if we were from another planet. Ed turned back and looked up at the tree. A metal arm was stuck among the branches, looking extremely out of place. Ed chuckled and scratched the back of his head with his—my—left hand.

"Uh… Look, there's an explanation for all, this, I—"

"Why is everyone standing around here? What's going on?"

All the students jerked and turned at the sound of a teacher's voice. It didn't even matter who the teacher was, we just all knew she was a teacher, and therefore, in charge.

"Katie pulled her arm out and left it in the tree!" one kid blurted out. Ed winced and grinned sheepishly. The teacher looked at us and then up at the tree.

"Very funny, Katie. Now please stop these childish games and pull your _real_ arm out from underneath your shirt." Ed scowled and stared back at the teacher.

"That _is_ my real arm, it got caught in the branches!"

"I've had enough of this silly obsession of yours with that main-gah of yours," the teacher said, looming over us. "And if you don't pull out your real arm from underneath your shirt now, I'll write you up for a week's worth of cleaning the lunchroom!" I winced, but Ed seemed even more determined.

"That's not possible for me to do, and I'll prove it," he said, and turned for the tree. The students watching let out a small gasp of surprise and started muttering about how much "Katie" had seemed to change from her usual self. I sighed. So much for staying under cover. Ed seemed to have a knack for causing disturbances.

'_Aw, shut up, Cat,'_ he muttered as he approached the tree and grabbed a branch with our one good arm. The teacher let out a startled cry of protest and started threatening Ed with more punishments, but he just rolled his eyes and kept climbing.

With a grunt and some hard twists, Ed managed to get the arm free from the branches without falling down. He then looked down and easily leapt to the ground and landed on his feet. The students cheered. I had to admit, it impressed me how nimble he could be even when he was in a girl's body and missing one arm. Ed grinned and bowed to the students and then approached the teacher, who had her arms crossed and was glaring at us.

"Do you know what you—"

"This is my arm," Ed snapped back at her. I silently wished I wouldn't get in trouble for acting rude to teachers. "And I'll show you."

'_Sorry, Cat. Brace yourself.'_ Ed said and winced.

'_This is going to hurt, huh?' _

'_Yes, a lot.' _

He gritted his teeth together, and then shoved the arm back into the socket. I felt a sharp electrical shock like nothing else I had ever felt run across my entire body. My instinct was to scream out in pain, but Ed was too strong for that. He gritted his teeth silently while the rest of the class (including the teacher) watched him in stunned amazement.

I figured I had plenty of time to be in amazement later, but at that moment, I was in _pain_ like I had never been in before. Ed gripped our hands tightly and shut his eyes, but I could feel him having trouble keeping hold of his concentration when I was silently screaming inside my body.

'_Sorry, Cat, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…'_

Apparently the pain was too much for my weakling body to physically handle, and I went unconscious at that point.

"Katie? Katie, are you alright?"

I moaned and started to sit up, but stopped when a searing pain greeted my right shoulder and all the events of the day came flashing back to me. I winced and slumped back to a lying down position, taking the pressure off my automail arm. I was almost surprised that Ed wasn't still in charge, but I figured he had let go of control while I had been out of it.

'_Don't worry, Cat, I'm right here.'_

Something about Ed inside my body felt different though. Almost like he had felt after the transmutation of my hair. Tired. Like putting the automail back in had been spiritually draining for him. This didn't seem surprising to me after I had been through the pain of having automail reinserted.

I sighed and readjusted my head, then frowned and moved it again. My head felt funny, like I was in the middle of a puddle or something.

"I feel wet…" I mumbled. The school nurse bent over me and offered a warm smile.

"The kids in your PE class were trying to help you. They tried splashing water on you to wake you up, but it didn't seem to work very well. A little water never hurt anyone though, right?"

"Right…" I sighed and looked up to the ceiling.

'_Crap. What about your hair dye?'_ Ed said, seeing to jolt halfway into control but then deciding against it. _'That would come out with too much water, and then we'd have to make sure to make your hair look normal again before you went home and faced your parents…' _

"Is she alright?" a familiar voice asked from another room. Ed and I both groaned.

'_Too late, Ed. Mom's already here.' _

'_I guess if you're blond, you're blond and have to deal with it.' _

'_Great. Next time, _don't_ rush into pulling the soccer ball out of the tree, got it, Ed?' _ I said sternly. He chuckled in a half-hearted sort of way.

"Where is she? Oh, my baby—Katie, what happened to your hair?"

'_Blond, that water definitely washed out the dye,' _Ed sighed.

"Hi, Mom," I said slowly, trying my best to sit up and not put any pressure on my right arm. It was still throbbing at the socket.

"Katie, I was so worried!" my mom said, throwing her arms around me. "They called me at work and said you had passed out, and then I come in and you have blond hair, and—Why on earth are you wearing golden eye contacts?"

"Uh…" I stammered. I had forgotten about trying to hide my eyes from my mom. "Look, Mom, I can explain…"

"Well, it had better be a _very _good explanation, missy, or your father and I are going to have a talk, and you're going to be grounded for a MONTH! You know we told you not to wear colored eye contacts or dye your hair, Katie. Why are you doing this? Is this your teenage rebellion?"

"No, Mom, I…" I paused. How exactly was one supposed to tell their mother they were being possessed by an anime character?

'_Want me to take over for a bit?'_

I sighed. _'Please and thank you, Ed.' _

I felt him take over again and gratefully sank back in my own body. The pain seemed easier to handle when he was controlling our body. Like it had become number, duller. I wondered if it had become sharper for Ed, but I didn't worry. I knew he was capable of handling pain.

"Mrs. Greene, I…"

"What did you call me, young lady?" my mother snapped back at Ed. He winced at the words "young lady" but otherwise kept going.

"Uh, look, this may see a little strange, but your daughter has another spirit inside for now. Me, to be exact."

"Katie, I don't like these games," my mom said. I could see the blood draining from her face as she pursed her lips. Aside from that—and the shaking hands, I realized with a sigh—she seemed alright.

"I wouldn't play games with you, Mrs. Greene," Ed said and reached forward and patted her hand. It almost seemed like an odd gesture to come from Ed, but then again, I was learning more and more that there were a lot of hidden details to Ed I had no idea about. "I'm not going to hurt your daughter in any way. It was an accident that this happened. I'm trying to get things back to normal as soon as I can."

"And how does that relate to the blond hair and golden eyes?" my mom said slowly, pulling her hand out of Ed's patting.

"Because. That seems to be a side effect of all this," Ed said slowly, reaching backwards and rubbing the back of our hair. "Katie happened to take on a few of my characteristic when I got stuck in her body. That's why she has automail too."

I heard something crash in the distance. Ed looked up and noticed a student who was staring at us with wide eyes with a broken vase and scattered flowers at her feet. Ed scowled at her and she squeaked and hurried in the opposite direction she had come. He then sighed and turned back to my mother, who seemed to be lost in thought.

"Automail… Oh, no," my said, wagging her head and standing up. "I see where this is going. Katie, this is all just an excuse for you to just act more like that Edward Elric of yours. I'm tired of you being so obsessed with that boy. I want you to cut this out right now. I—I'm going to take away all your FMA stuff if you keep up this silly act, Katie."

'_No!'_

'_Silly Cat,' _Ed chuckled. _'You've got the real Edward Elric possessing you, and you're worried about some silly merchandise?'_ I snickered and felt like I would have blushed had I had control of my body. I figured he had a point in that.

"This isn't an act, Mrs. Greene. You can ask Katie's friends if you want to. It happened while Katie was trick-or-treating, and they were there to see it happen."

"Katie, stop it."

'_Oh, please don't push him to pulling our arm out again, Mom,'_ I sighed.

'_Don't worry, Katie, there's no way I'm going to do that to you again when you obviously aren't up to handling it yet.' _I sighed in relief. Ed really was a gentleman.

"Would you believe me if I could show you some alchemy, Mrs. Greene?"

"You can't do alchemy, Katie. That show isn't real. You need—you need some serious help, because this is not normal, and…"

"A girl just broke a vase in here a couple of minutes ago when she heard I have automail," Ed said slowly. "What would you think if I could fix that just by clapping my hands?"

"You can't do that, Katie."

"Watch me," Ed muttered with a smirk. He then carefully hoisted us off the nurse's bed and walked over to where the pieces of the broken vase still were. He crouched down and picked up a piece, looked at it closely, and then put it back on the floor.

"Here goes," he grinned, and I felt the familiar rush of formulas and equations that I knew were connected with making the vase into one piece again. He then clapped his hands together and touched them to the floor. This time I stayed smart and made sure not to poke at the flow of energy that felt like Ed. I especially didn't want to mess up his transmutation when my mom was watching and deciding if he was real based upon it.

"There," Ed smirked and pulled away. A complete vase with flowers propped up in it was standing on the floor where the broken mess had been before. He looked up at my mom, who was standing completely still with one hand pressed to her heart.

"Oh my… Katie…" she murmured.

'_You pick it up from her, Cat.' _

I felt Ed slip back again so that I was in control. I took a deep breath and placed a hand on my mom's shoulder. She shuddered and pulled away.

"Mom, it's me," I said, trying my best to seem happy and sure of myself. "Look, I feel fine, we just happen to be two people sharing one body, and one of the people happens to be Edward Elric, that's all. It's okay. He's not going to hurt me."

"You didn't drink your milk this morning," my mom whispered. "I knew something was different. You always drink your milk."

"Mom, it's okay," I repeated, licking my lips. I hadn't expected my mom to react quite so badly to the news.

"Edward Elric," my mom muttered, and then her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fainted into my arms.

**Well, I don't entirely remember what happened in that chapter, but I'm sure it was awesome. Or at least okay. And I got my brain cells back magically by skim reading that, so I think I'll actually get back to work on this. Yay! *waves small flag* I think that means I surrender. Don't hurt me, Fanfiction, I surrender! **


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